Hat-felting machine



UNI f. S

rs rn A. C. FULLER, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT.

HAT-FELTING MACHINE.

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that I, A. C. FULLER, of Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and State 4of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Felting Hat- Bodies; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, said drawing being a longi tudinal vertical section of my improvement, the plane of section being through the center.

My invention consists in the employment or use of a rotating polygonal drum placed within a cylindrical shell, a7V portion of which is elastic, and using rollers in connect-ion with the above parts, the whole being arranged as will be presently shown and described for the purpose of felting hat bodies in a perfect and expeditious manner.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, represents a rectangular frame in which a drum B, is fitted, the periphery of said drum being of polygonal or many sided form; the drum is allowed to rotate freely within the frame A.

C, represents a cylindrical shell in which the drum B, is fitted. This shell does not extend entirely around the drum, an opening or space (0:), being allowed as shown in the drawing.

At the upper part of the shell there are placed rollers D. Two are represented in the drawing, but more may be used if necessary. 'Ihe bearings of the rollers are attached to the end pieces of the shell and the portions (o), of the shell C, between and at the outer sides of the rollers are detached and are rendered elastic by spiral springs (c), which encompass pins (d), the pins passing through the ends of the portions (b), of the shell. The lower part of the shell'C, is immersed in a vessel of water, and the drum B, is rotated in the direction indicated by the red arrow. The rollers D, are also rotated in the same direction as the drum by a belt (e), which passes around a pulley at one end of the aXis of the drum.

The hat bodies shown in red are rolled and fed in between the lower part of the drum B, and shell C, and are carried around between the drum and shell and discharged from between the upper end of the shell and drum. The polygonal form of the drum, causes the hat bodies to be compressed at intervals, the projecting angles formed by the junction of the sides, of course compressing the bodies intermittently, as the drum rotates. The rollers D, D, check the speed of the hat bodies and prevent them from passing too rapidly out from between the drum and rollers. The speed of the rollers D, D, therefore should be a trifie less rapid than that of the drum. The speed however may be regulated as occasion requires.

The parts of the shell C, yield or give as the bodies pass underneath them.

The implement thus constructed causes the hat bodies to be' subjected to the neces* sary rubbing and rolling motion similar to that given by hand, and felts the bodies in a perfect manner.

Having thus described my invention, I do not claim a vibrating rubber or bed in combination with rollers having a positive and reverse action; but

What I do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The polygonal drum B constructed, arranged, and operated substantially' in the manner, and for the purposes described.

A. C. FULLER.

Witnesses:

DAVID. `W. KNowLEs, ABEL S. HAWLEY. 

